Montreal Canadiens visit Anaheim amidst four-game losing streak

The Montreal Canadiens are winless in their last four games, and looking a little exhausted, but rest will have to wait.

Martin St. Louis's group has three games remaining, all on the road, before heading into the two-week break for the Four Nations Faceoff. They start this afternoon against the Anaheim Ducks, before travelling to San Jose and then Los Angeles the next night. A break is much needed, but first a true test of the Canadiens' grit, toughness and willingness to battle through a tough stretch.

As far as the opening period goes, the Canadiens have been the better team, as the stats sheet says. First, they caught the Ducks sleeping while on the man advantage, and Jake Evans and Joel Armia made them pay, tallying a shorthanded goal. Armia's tally was the 11th of his career on the penalty kill.

Just putting it out there that Armia is a very interesting player, because you never really know what version of him you'll get. Often he is a hound on the puck, and his dog-on-a-bone approach makes him an immense defender. But offensively, when he decides to turn it up, he dances through defence's like Alex Kovalev, and his shot rivals Cole Caufield's, but that is once every 25 games.

Armia can dominate shifts, and I think his best will be seen in Boston and Montreal when he represents Finland at the Four Nations Faceoff. He can look like a stud in the attacking zone but turns up things most during international play. In every sense of the word, Armia is a Swiss Army knife, and that is why he has stuck with the Habs.

Onto the second goal of the game, this one came up with a man on the power play; Christian Dvorak put the finishing touches on a great passing play. Mike Matheson one-touched a slapshot off a feed on the half-wall from Alex Newhook. Matheson's shot forced a rebound, and Dvorak was 'Johnny on the spot' firing home a gimme in the slot.

For some reason, with the Habs up by two goals, Arber Xhekaj accepted a fight challenge from Ducks tough guy Ross Johnston. Johnston is a 6'5'', 234 lbs role player for the Ducks - he hits hard, and fights with cinder blocks for fists. He, and Xhekaj are two bullies in the same game - as you'd expect, the fight didn't disappoint.

Xhekaj and Johnston threw some absolutely vicious punches, and the latter didn't allow the Ducks to gain much momentum from the fight. The Canadiens wrapped up the remainder of the period retaining their two-goal lead. An encouraging change given their play during their recent four-game stretch.

For the first six minutes of the second period, the Canadiens played great hockey, not perfect, but they blocked shots and held the Ducks off the board. But the wheels started to fall off after the ice had started tilting into Montreal's zone. Mason McTavish fired home a pass from Alex Killorn after Leo Carlsson started the play.

Then, while the wound from the first goal was still hurting, Anaheim struck for their second less than a minute later. Montreal was stunned, but they were in a bit more of a familiar situation - fighting to gain the lead. With two minutes on the board in the second period, the Habs and Ducks are deadlocked at 2-2.

Before the clock could run down to zero, Kirby Dach took a penalty for crosschecking Brett Leason multiple times. The Ducks will start the final frame on the power play, after battling back from a two-goal deficit. Anaheim is seventh in the Pacific division, and 28th overall in the league, with a -31 goal differential.

It has been an interesting season for the Canadiens, but for me, this wasn't unexpected. This is a young team growing, and that will come with its issues, which is primarily why Mike Matheson, Christian Dvorak and David Savard are being retained. The team is young, and having some old and wise veterans is important at this juncture in the club's rebuild.

Montreal killed off the penalty, and the two teams battled hard to feel their opposing goaltender. At times the game got quite chippy, especially with the Ducks controlling the majority of play. The Ducks have played a tremendous game of keep-away while creating chances and testing Samuel Montembeault.

With 8:49 to go in the final frame, Killorn came in of the half-wall and ripped a wrist shot under the bar on Montembeault's blocker side. He had a little bit too much time and space to take his shot and he picked his spot. With the shots 22-18 in the Ducks favour, it hasn't been an easy go for the Canadiens.

Martin St. Louis called a timeout with 2:07 remaining on the clock and drew up his plan of attack. Laine could be seen on the bench, and that is where he got comfortable, taking just one shift in the third period. The Canadiens pulled Montembeault and opted for a six-on-five advantage to close out the game.

The Canadiens pressed, and Suzuki had a brilliant chance in the slot, but Lukas Dostal kicked it aside. That was as close as the Canadiens would get, as Hutson took a minor for hooking, in an attempt to keep the deficit at one. Anaheim fed the Habs their lunch and pushed them along in their free-fall down the standings.

Canadiens winless in last five games

Whatever the Canadiens were doing when they were seeing success, seems to have aged like spoiled milk. Everything was going through Lane Hutson, and Patrik Laine's shot was gold. But cracks were starting to show - mostly having to battle back every game.

It eventually caught up, and the team that was considered a wildcard contender has completely lost momentum. It got to a low point on Sunday afternoon when the Habs lost to the 28th-ranked Ducks, for their fifth-consecutive loss. Hutson, Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Kirby Dach and Patrik Laine were held scoreless.

Montreal is in a weird place, and many players are underperforming, which has begun to wear down the goaltenders. When the team is constantly hemmed in their zone, and turning over pucks, it takes a toll on the masked man between the pipes. Taking poor penalties, and doing themselves no service with their poor play on the man advantage has plagued the Canadiens.

St. Louis's group is young and there is obvious room for the team to grow and mature; and nights like this one, while they're bad, they are a part of the learning process. But the Canadiens have learned how it feels to drop these crucial games at this point in the season. In a little over a month the Trade Deadline arrives, and based on the Habs' place in the standings, general manager Kent Hughes could make various moves.

I'm not sure enough that this team can play consistently well from here on out to make the playoffs and ruffle some feathers. They look fragile defensively, and the offence has dried up completely. Hughes is a smart man, and if he was planning on shopping for a rental player ahead of the playoffs, the Canadiens' recent play has to have changed his mind.

The schedule brings the Habs to Los Angeles for a 10:30 game against the Kings, who are 12th overall in the overall standings. Los Angeles sits at third in the Pacific division, trailing the Edmonton Oilers and Vegas Golden Knights, It isn't going to get easier, and the longer it takes for them to stop the bleeding, the worse the wound will become.